Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema, By Gary Giddins

If Garry Giddins expresses doubts about the cinematic isolation imposed by the DVD, there is no denying the assiduity of his viewing. After discussing a 13-disc collection of films made by John Ford for Warner Bros, he scrutinises the "21-disc salute" of the boxed set called Ford at Fox.

While enjoying Rogers & Hammerstein's 1945 State Fair, he insists that its colour is "more calorific than the songs". His keen-eyed critique ranges from Popeye to Blade Runner, praised for its looks but damned for "directorial incompetence" by Ridley Scott. Discussing The Third Man, Giddins notes that Holly Martins played by Joseph Cotten "represents Greene's first evisceration of the 'quiet American'".